i vent from room to room so i am able to hear the fan noise directly
i have a 275watt fan which is powerful, it came in a metal box but it was still noisy
so i put it inside another box with some insulation, now it is nice and quiet
when the fan was only in the metal box it came in, the noise was loud enough that i was unable to hear any noise at all coming from the air rushing into the carbon filter
now i am able to hear the small amount of noise at the carbon filter
in contrast the outlet sounds very loud, this is not a problem for me at all as it is vented to a spare room
if it was vented outside, it would sound like a central heating system, the noise is very deep like a gushing sound reminds me of an airplane in the distance LOL
it would be noticed , personally i do not think the noise is suspicious folk would assume it is from a heating system or boiler
the best way to keep noise down is to use much larger fans on a speed or voltage controller
fans with large blades 12 inch or more can spin much slower to remove the same amount of air, this makes much less noise to begin with
you can also buy or make a silencer for the outlet or you can put another carbon filter on the outlet, but you will need a more powerful fan
if you are going to put any resistance on the outlet to reduce noise as it will reduce the performance of the fan
peace